Young and Beautiful
by WeaverOfFates
Summary: Noctis is the heir of the mafia family turned royalty. He is part of a reckless generation determined to expose themselves to the intoxicating future. The city flourishes. The buildings are higher. The parties are endless, but beneath it all someone is desperate to keep secrets hidden. Noctis tries to uncover these secrets and many more of the young and beautiful summoner.Crossover
1. Prologue The Interrogation

Based from a youtube video called Young and Beautiful by ZM4usboth and inspired by the Great Gatsby.

**Update: I removed Stella from the character listing because I do not want people to think this is strictly a Noctis/Stella story. There are many ways this story could go. CROSSOVER.**

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**Prologue - The Interrogation**

"Explain to me," Cerebus began calmly, "how you expect me to interrogate a _dead_ _man_!"

His baritone voice reverberated angrily though the room, shouting back at them from every side. His accomplice shrunk away from the taller, broader Cerebus while stuttering incoherently. He backed out of the pool of dim light and back into the shadows.

Cerebus let a threatening growl escape his chest. It's warning sound echoed back to them like a monster lying in wait in the darkness. He turned back to the silent man hanging before him. Shadows rocked violent across his down turned face as the single bulb above swung from its string. He hung from rusted handcuffs chained to a single pipe. Angry, red welts shined from his wrist. His legs dangled knee deep in the small pool of water.

"Malick," he shouted at the hanging figure, but he did not show any signs of life. "Dowse him Braz."

Cerebus sat down in the single wooden chair just outside the pool of water. He ran his hands angrily through his wild, purple hair before pulling out a cigar and lighting it. He closed his eyes as he took the first draw and the water began to pour. In such a confined space, the rushing water overwhelmed the room giving the impression they were standing under a waterfall.

Then came the gargling, barking coughs of a man being drowned. They reminded Cerebus he had a job to do.

"That's enough."

The water quickly ceased, but the hacking coughs did not. Cerebus watched patiently as the hanging man sputtered violently. His handcuffs rattled the pipes and the sound rebounded back like the rattling of a hundred chained men rather than the one. Cerebus smiled to himself pleased to see he was not dead yet and took in a deep breath of murky air.

"Glad you could join us, Malick."

Malick spat blood into the water. "Fuck you!"

Cerebus exchanged glances with his accomplice Braz and he nodded his understandings. With a snap of Braz's fingers the water came alive with electricity. The room's edges grew sharp in the sudden flash of blue light. Malick's body convulsed furiously. His wails of agony did not die off until long after the electricity had.

Once Malick had grown silent and his body no longer twitched, Cerebus continued on as if there had never been any interruption. "My boss, Idola Eldercapt wants me to make this very clear to you, Malick. Give up where your boss has it hidden, and all this will be like a bad dream . . . something you'll laugh about later."

Malick's only reply was silence. In there even the silence seemed to echo infinitely around Cerebus. It bounced off the wall and slapped into back him as if in insult. Each passing was second was another hurling insult slamming into him. Each passing second caused his anger to rise inside him to an almost uncontrollable level. Two weeks Braz had been down here working on breaking Malick. Together he and Cerebus had tortured more men than they could count for information. These men were always murders, vicious, and needed to be softened up by Braz before Cerebus came down to deliver the final blow, but it never took this long.

"Well if you prefer to play the mute,"Cerebus shrugged. With a snarl he turned to Braz. "Give him another taste."

Braz snapped his fingers again and the water buzzed like angry wasp. He watched in a morbid awe of the spasms of electric blue lights around Malick's legs. He listened with satisfaction to the singe of flesh and the howls of torment. The sight of Malick's body thrashing frantically brought a smile of triumph to his face. He would get what he wanted. Malick's rebounding screams grew louder and Cerebus had to shout to be heard over them.

"What's that Malick? Ready to talk?"

The buzz of electricity died instantly and with it Malick's scream. His body went limp causing the burning metal cuffs to cut into his blistered wrist. Small trickles of blood dripped down his bare arms.

"You tell your boss . . ." Malicks' breaths were ragged, gasping.

Cerebus listened eagerly as Malick groaned trying to catch his breath. When he next spoke, his voice was eerily calm, "You tell Eldercapt that whatever he thinks he can do to me . . . _The Caelums can do double!"_

Malick's enraged voice exploded around them, amplified a hundred times over by its ringing echo. Unexplained fear and sudden anger surged inside Cerebus and overwhelmed all rational thought. Without his permission his fingers snapped and angry flames erupted around Malick.

The distress in Malick's screeches was potent. Despite his shrieks of anguish, Cerebus could still hear those words whispering to him. He could hear them over the final cries of agony, over the final gasping breaths, and over his own heavy breathing. Malicks' final words were still echoing from the shadows long after Malick's breaths had silenced.

_The Caelums can do double._


	2. Chapter 1 Lucis

Quick note: Story is inspired by a video on youtube called Young and Beautiful by ZM4usBoth and The Great Gatsby. This will feature characters from other FF games. I do not own any characters. I am not making money off this. Enjoy.

Youtube video on watch?v=2FI8iXP6e1s&feature=c4-overview&list=UU1FPGFNMrypWVeTwi39UpsQ just put the www. youtube before

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**Chapter 1 Lucis - 1925**

The war between The Five was an almost-decade old memory and the streets once littered with bullet casings were now packed with the animated crowds that rushed through them. For almost three generations families had hidden themselves away from the world and the streets where masked men with machine guns and armored soldiers had toiled away at killing each other off.

For those who had grown old during such a violent time, they knew the peace was a false and temporary one. For the young, restlessness had overwhelmed them from years of oppression and with the newfound freedom they allowed it to overpower them.

That was why she was strolling anxiously under the towering buildings. The buildings had grown taller since the war. The morals had grown looser with no shoulder to have to constantly look over. Now that they no longer had to worry about what danger lay behind them, they were free to run forward into the future and find what treasures it held. That was why she was in this city, Lucis. That was why she was exactly where she wasn't supposed to be, because now she was free to do as she pleased.

"Noctis Caleum."

The words tasted deliciously of forbidden fruit as they left Stella's mouth. What was even more delicious was the fact that Noctis was standing right before her.

His rich brown hair was artfully ruffled in the back. Messy bangs hung dangerously close to his eyes and tapered around his long chin. His blue eyes flashed a dangerous shade of red when they landed on her. He stepped out of the shadows he had been trying to blend into with his solid black outfit. He moved so close to her she could feel the heat from his body smothering her.

"What are you doing in Lucis, Miss Fleuret," he spoke indifferently.

She recoiled from the use of her last name as if he had slapped her. She struggled to keep her voice a sultry tone. "Miss? Fleuret? It wasn't that long ago that I was Stella to you . . ._ your_ Stella."

She flashed her most smoldering smile made even dazzling by the bright red lipstick. His face remained void of emotion as he searched her eyes. There had been a time when that restlessness had been so strong in both of them that they could not have stood such a long moment so far apart.

He reached for her wrist and pulled her closer to him so that the heat of him burned her. His breath was hot on her face. Warmth and longing spread through her chest and down her body causing her to shudder. Images flashed behind her eyes of him holding her, her touching him; them as children holding each other as they tried so desperately to escape the war. Her eyes left his and wandered to his lips and she couldn't help but remember and imagine them against her own. They were so close she could almost taste them.

They stood that way in the street for longer than Stella thought possible. Him gripping her wrist uncomfortably and pleasingly tight. Her gazing up into that impossibly handsome face. His dark hair and fair skin contrasting sharply with her bright blond, flowing hair and sun kissed skin. She knew they were making a spectacle, she could feel eyes upon them. Those watching were entranced to see where this moment would end, and so was she.

"Leave now," he said harshly, pushing her gently back away from him, "and _don't_ let me catch you back in my city again."

She stumbled backwards in surprise farther than his push had sent her. Each word he spoke sliced through her, cutting off any words she knew she should say. She wasn't sure how long she stood there, blinking at his retreating figure as if some bright light had blinded her. It wasn't until a horn from a car blew shrilly behind her that she gained control of her body again.

"Hey doll," a man shouted. "Need a ride?"

She turned back to the voice, but didn't even register who had spoken at first. Her voice came out crisp and natural despite the stinging pain in her chest. "Maybe. How fast will it get me where I'm going?"

The man hanging out the window was close to her age, early twenties definitely. His much lighter brown hair was styled like Noctis- why not, Noctis was famous after all- but it came out looking like he simply rolled out of bed. That and the shadows under his eyes made him look haggard. Still his eagerness for her attention ebbed some of the pain away.

"Only way to find out is to jump in," he winked.

She flashed a smug smile at him and jumped into the black car. He took one long look at her in her short black skirt before slamming his foot down hard on the gas. The car took off smoothly down the street that was becoming more and more crowded the darker the sky grew.

"Where you headed," he called out over the roar of his engine.

"Citadel," she replied.

"What's a girl from Tenebrae going to Citadel for," he smirked, taking his eyes off the road just long enough to catch her face.

She wondered how it was so obvious she wasn't from this city that the Caelums' had total control over. Rather than ask she smiled sweetly, "Why ruin the surprise by telling you when I could just show you?"

His eyes grew wide knowingly, but he kept them on the road as he swerved around cars impatiently. "What's your name?"

"Oh, why bother with names," she laughed. "Will they even matter in the morning?"

He shook his head with a chuckle. "Whatever you say, doll."

"Stop by those buildings," she demanded, pointing them out.

He glanced at the nearing buildings and put on a burst of speed. He narrowly missed slamming into another car, who's driver blew their horn angrily a couple of times, as he changed lanes. The car jolted with the sudden brakes just outside the building.

"This your place," he asked hopefully as Stella jumped out the door.

She was suddenly eager to get away and disgusted with that eager face her was wearing. "It's too early to be going home. This is my friend's. Thanks for the ride."

She turned and sashayed up the steps, but he wasn't giving up that easily. "Hey! I wanna know what's so special about Citadel, doll. Aren't ya gonna show me?"

She suppressed the groan that was anxious to escape and settled for simply rolling her blue eyes. When she turned to face him she flashed the sweetest smile she could muster. "Meet me under the glass dome at midnight and I'll show ya."

She winked once and blew him a kiss in hopes that would convince him. She didn't wait around to see, and bounced through the door quickly. The glass door beyond it was locked so she pressed the button next to name she was looking for. It was a moment before the angelic voice came from the speaker.

"Well he _is_ a looker!"

Stella pressed the button and called through the speaker, "Yunie! Were you spying on me?"

When she let go the child-like voice of her friend giggled. "Spying!? I was just sitting on the balcony enjoying the view!"

"Well let me up and you will have a much better view of me," Stella demanded.

There was a buzz and she pulled open the door. She rushed into the elevator and to the floor Yuna called her own. She was waiting by the door with a guilty face. Her plump cheeks and pouting lips made her look like a child and Stella couldn't help but laugh. "What's the matter? And why aren't you dressed?"

Yuna glanced down at her traditional white robes of a summoner. "I am dressed."

Stella rolled her eyes before she passed her and into the apartment that took up the entire floor of the building. "Not in that boring thing! Tonight is a big night! Remember?"

Yuna shut the door behind her and leaned against it in defeat. "I was thinking . . . maybe this is a bad idea."

Stella turned to her younger, and much more innocent, friend. With the sternest look she could put on her face she said firmly, "Yuna, none of that. It's already booked. Your _man_ is expecting you. Now put on the dress!"

Yuna turned her best puppy dog eyes on Stella. It was a look she used well against others. Her eyes were hypnotic because they were not ordinary eyes. One was the most vibrant green while the other an electric blue. Perhaps that was what had called the famous Tidus over to their table that night so long ago and maybe it was the reason he had fallen in love with Yuna rather than Stella. Maybe that was the reason her wide eye routine didn't work on Stella.

"Go!"

Yuna sighed and pushed herself off the door, her short, warm brown hair swaying with the movement. Stella watched her disappear into her dressing room with an annoyed shake of the head. Bobbed hair and short dresses was all the rage since the war ended. Yuna had been the first to cut her pretty locks, but Stella hadn't been able to bring herself to cut hers. She had thought Yuna was getting bolder, like herself, but she was still the same, sweet, goody-goody Yuna Stella had always known.

She sat herself down on the couch and her eyes couldn't help but be drawn to the picture of Tidus on the coffee table. His smug smile next to Yuna seemed to mocking her, forever frozen inside that blue frame. The memory of Noctis' rejection flared up inside her and she had the sudden urge to tear that smiling picture of Tidus to shreds.

Girlish laughter bubbled through the wide cobblestone tunnel, followed by a chiming voice. "Hurry up!"

The laughter doubled as another girl's musical voice joined the tune. "I'm coming!"

Noctis paused in the dark tunnel to listen to the melodic laughter as it floated around him. He sunk back against the wall just as they grew near. They danced eagerly past him. Both were shinning in their beauty and sparkling dresses, and neither noticed the grave faced man leaning back into the shadows. He watched silently as they pulled each other earnestly along, all the while giggling and whispering their hopes of what the evening had in store.

Noctis watched for a long moment after they had disappeared from view and their laughter had faded away. As he watched the spot they disappeared, he couldn't help but wonder how it felt to be so care free. He couldn't help but wonder what kind of man he could have been if he was from any other family.

He shook the thoughts away, and continued forward with a more determined pace. The cobblestone tunnel's end was near and he could smell the night's crip air mixed with the smell of the sea. He could hear the distant murmur of voices and the shrill horns of car. Before he could exit though, he took a sharp turn into a much narrow tunnel and stepped down the stairs. The door at the bottom was marked Authorized Personnel Only. His family was in control of the city, so he supposed that made him "authorized."

He pushed it open and stepped into the long halls that ran beneath the city. There were glaring white lights every few feet that made harsh shadows, and every few feet he passed the opening of a new tunnel on either side. He passed eight gaping openings, took the right tunnel, and began his count again.

He was near Citadel. He could tell by the vibrations in his chest. They were always strongest near his home. Five. He turned again and saw Ignis standing just inside a pool of white light. His back, clad in a black leather jacket was to Noctis, but he knew he was there.

"Whoever was here is gone now," he called coolly to Noctis without turning to him.

Noctis didn't respond and joined him. They stood over the remains of a work site and a dried pool of blood. There were tools and gun shells left behind in haste. Noctis shook his head in annoyance. There was nothing here, and this was a waste of time. "Maybe we got lucky and they just got lost and will starve to death."

Ignis took his glasses off and began to rub them clean. He wasn't convinced, Noctis could tell. "Or whatever they were planning to do is happening tonight and they are getting into position."

He put his glasses back on and his face was grave. Ignis had told Noctis through a telegram that he heard talk from an informant of an attack being carried out underground. From what Noctis saw now, he didn't feel convinced there was even anything to worry about. "Who do you think is planning on attacking?"

"Eldercapt." Ignis confided as they both turned away from the work site and walked back the way Noctis had came.

"You still think the peace treaty he signed was a ruse?"

Ignis did not answer and Noctis knew he was choosing his words carefully. "I believe it was to buy himself time."

"To attack," Noctis concluded.

Ignis nodded, his face growing sharp with worry in the harsh light and then fading into the shadows as the continued on. They took a turn that lead them deeper into the maze of tunnels and further from the city. Neither one had said where they were going, but they both knew, and Noctis couldn't help but be unsettled and proud of the fact. Ignis was raised to know Noctis' every move.

"I don't believe anyone will attack tonight," Noctis concluded as they took another turn.

The swaggering tune from a trumpet wafted lazily down the tunnel. Ignis' green eyes flashed pointedly as they stepped into a pool of light and then back out. "And why do you believe that?"

Noctis thought back to the blue eyed, blond girl who he had encountered in the streets. "This is the week of the annual peace conference," he said instead of bringing _her_ up. He could feel Ignis' eyes on him, but he refused to return the look. He was sure Ignis already knew Stella was here. It was his job to know.

The music was growing stronger. The murmur of voices mixed into the jazz melody floating from the hidden club. The smell of liquor was strong, which was why the club was so well hidden.

"This week being the peace conference makes it a perfect time to attack. It is what I would do." Ignis wasn't going to speak about Stella, but he wasn't going to drop the issue either

"Well you are evil," Noctis chided.

The corners of Ignis' mouth jerked, but he fought the smile. "It would put the five cities and the counsel in an uproar. The citizens would begin to panic that another war would begin. The city would be arms, arguing over who it was, who we should attack, if we should attack. . . Riots . . . Trying to regain control would distract us . . make us weak and leave us vulnerable to an attack. That would be when they make their real move."

They paused just outside the door. The jazz music was blaring now. The voices were buzzing with excitement. Ignis was looking expectantly at Noctis now. "So attacking now would be what you would do."

"Yes," Ignis replied.

Noctis smirked. "Then why are we outside a speakeasy?"

Ignis returned the smirk, although they both knew why they were standing outside that door. Noctis could already hear his father barking angrily in his ear. _It's too dangerous_! _You are not invincible! _Ignis opened the door, "It's just been such a long time since our last bar fight!"

They stepped into a mad mass of swaying bodies. The celebration for the New Year was in full swing. The jazz band on the stage was swaying with their instruments in hand as if she was a beautiful woman. Beneath a haze of smoke, dresses glinted like stars as the women wearing them let their bodies move seductively with the beat. Men admired the view from the bar and booths, nursing amber colored drinks in hand.

"Whoa," a broad man stepped out in front of them. "You got a ticket."

He peered down at them over his muscular chest suspiciously. Noctis shrugged, "Didn't realize this was a private party."

"Well it is. No ticket. No entrance, Mr. Caleum."

"That wouldn't be liquor," Ignis nodded towards the bar where men were now turning to watch the scene they were causing.

"I'm sure it's not," Noctis replied, pushing past the guard.

Men were scattering from the bar now. Men in the shadowed booths and those lingering in the shadowed corners were glaring at the two of them. The guard was walking closely behind, his feet stomping from the sheer size of him. Noctis could already see him reaching into the blazer coat for a hidden gun.

"Didn't your family outlaw all alcohol," Ignis asked with a mock expression of confusion.

"That he did," Noctis agreed. "Which is why I know this is not liquor."

The guard's thick hand landed hard on Noctis' shoulder. "That's far enough."

Noctis reacted before he could truly think what he was doing through. He had whirled around and grabbed the hand that was on his shoulder only a second after it had landed. Noctis could see the guard reaching for the shinning gun sitting in his holster.. The guard's arm mad a sickening crunch as Noctis twisted around his back, and before he could scream Noctis pushed him in Ignis' direction. He was only vaguely aware of the shrieks erupting around the room.

Ignis smacked the guard square in the jaw with the hilt of his katana as he pulled it from its sheath. The guard fell with a groan and a thud against the hard floor and Noctis and Ignis froze. Men had thrown themselves behind tables or over beautiful women who lay helplessly on the floor. From various booths several men now stood with heavy guns pointed at the pair. In the corners men in dark suit with over developed muscles were doing the same. Two men stood behind and in front of the bar with machine guns.

In only a matter of seconds Noctis' eyes flashed between the stone faces and counted sixteen guns. The band stood tensely on the stage, too afraid to move in fear they might spook the first shooter. Noctis could take the whole group of men, but not without getting innocence caught in the crossfire.

"What is it with you two. . ." the lone man still sitting at the bar said.

The two men standing on each side of him didn't flinch as he spoke, but their eyes narrowed when Noctis turned to look at him. He couldn't see his face, but he recognized the raspy, grating voice as Fontaine's. The whole room seemed to be holding their breath as he finished swirling the contents of his wine glass with a sad shake of his head. "Always doing things the hard way?"

Fontaine sat the glass down with a note of finality and mumbled something to his guard at his side. The guard gave Noctis one final glance of pure hatred before returning his gun to his hiding spot. The other men hesitated to do the same, but as their boss turned around on his stool they returned to their seats. Their suspicious faces stared at Noctis and Ignis even after their boss signaled harshly for the band to begin again.

The music filled the air once more, but the joyous tune sounded much more forced. Fontaine ran his hands over his slicked gray hair before nodding his head in the direction of the stage. He buttoned his black blazer closed like a man preparing to do business and made his way through the slowly and shaky crowd. Noctis and Ignis exchanged knowing glances, but followed him anyway. The guards' angry faces and the crowds' frightened one followed the three men across the room and until they disappeared behind a door flanked by two burly men.

"Now," Fontaine's voice could barely be heard over the music once the door was shut, but it still left an impression on Noctis' ears. He wondered if Fontaine spoke so softly because the grating voice was painful the louder he spoke. "You can't keep coming in here and breaking my men's arm. One day I might not wanna tell them to stand down."

He fell down heavily in a leather chair behind a desk. Ignis took a seat across from the desk as Fontaine lit a cigar. Adrenaline and lust for violence were still crawling through Noctis' veins and he could not force himself to sit down. Instead he propped against the wall, arms crossed, and eyes bearing into Fontaine's face. "Maybe we should go back out there and break a few more?"

Fontaine met Noctis' eyes with no emotion. He puffed on his cigar, hands resting against the chair's armrest with no sense of urgency, despite the confrontation from only a moment ago. A light flashed across his eyes and he pulled the cigar out from between his scarred lips with a menacing smile. "Boys, why so much violence? Surely this isn't the way the Prince of this fine city conducts his business!"

"We are not here for business, Fontaine," Ignis noted dryly. "Unless you would like to discuss your illegal transactions of liquor."

Fontaine's shoulders bounced exaggeratedly with humorless laughter. "Please Prince Noctis," he ignored Ignis. "We all know why your grandfather outlawed liquor. It's just good business! I always admired his business sense! How much of that large fortune you're sitting on is from liquor sells alone?"

"We're not here to talk about drinks," Noctis sneered.

"No," Fontaine stabbed out the end of his cigar violently. "You're here to discuss that bomb they've been hiding under your city, I bet."

Panic flared up inside Noctis, but he refused to let it reach his face. A bomb? He could see Ignis' back stiffen subtly, but his voice was cool when he asked, "They? As in your men?"

That smug smile was still on Fontaine's face. "You know I was friends with your grandfather back in the day."

Fontaine's scarred face watched Noctis expectantly. When Noctis didn't make a move, he continued. "Back when he wasn't afraid to say what he really was. A mafia boss who was smart enough to become a dirty politician." He pulled out a drawer slowly and reached inside. "Not like you or you're coward father who call yourself royalty all because you still got your greedy hands on that final –"

The desk erupted into angry flames just before Noctis could throw himself across the room and grab hold of Fontaine's neck. Fontaine's eyes watched the dancing flames as they died down leaving behind a scorched, ruined desk. Noctis could see the anger flash through his eyes, but his face remained still like stone.

"Nice trick." He looked at Noctis as if it had been his fault, and not Ignis.

"Tell us about the bomb," Noctis demanded.

Fontaine sat back into his chair and regarded Noctis dismally for a long moment before he answered. "There's been some petty thievery going on the past few weeks here in my bar. I thought it was one of my men, but things kept coming up missing even after he was put in the hospital. Then some of my girls didn't show up for work. Next thing I know, one of my men is attacked in the sewers trying to find out where they've gone. We heard the shots all through the bloody tunnels, but we didn't make it on time . . . He was already bleeding out when we got to him and the men and the bomb were gone."

Noctis and Ignis waited for more, but when it was clear Fontaine was done Ignis pressed on. "Did he say who they were?"

"He wasn't sure." Fontaine pulled out another cigar with a worn and tired expression. "But it has Eldercapt written all over it."

Stella's face as he told her to leave the city earlier flashed in Noctis' eyes. "Eldercapt signed a peace treaty."

Fontaine didn't seem to hear him. He was looking ruefully at the ruined lighter sitting upon the scorched desk with his cigar unlit in his mouth. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bundle of cash. He pulled his cigar out of his mouth with his free hand and said, "The thing about paper . . ."

He placed the cigar back in place and snapped his fingers. A small, blue flame danced from his finger tip, but he lit the cash in his other hand for effect. He used the burning paper to light the cigar and threw the cash on the already scorched desk. "It doesn't mean much to men like us."

Noctis glared at the burning paper and knew that Fontaine was right. Eldercapt, like Fontaine, wanted something more valuable than paper, and they weren't the only ones who wanted it. They all wanted the thing they used to have, but now only the Caelum family owned it and deep down Noctis knew he was ready to die for it.

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**Reviews fuel the passion to write- all writers out there understand. **


	3. Chapter 2 Explosives

Thanks for reading. Please subscribe so if this story "goes off the grid" you still get notifications ... that is you know if you like it and all. Song mentioned in the story is Billie Holiday's Gloomy Sunday. Like the stories character and the song. . . I do not own it.

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Chapter 2 Explosives

There had been a moment Ignis thought the hard shell around his friend was going to crack. Now that the panic about a bomb in their city was on his mind, that hard and stony expression was back on Noctis' face. He was glaring at the open road as if it was personally responsible for the threat to the city. He jerked the wheel hard, but the car cornered smoothly onto the highway leading into the heart of Citadel.

"So where would you attack?" Ignis knew Noctis' tone was harsher than he meant with anger and worry.

Ignis rearranged the glasses on his face. "Where there would be the most people."

"It's New Years. The Peace Conference is in a week. There are people e_verywhere_!" He slammed his fist against the wheel.

"A third of the city will be in Shinjuku tonight for the firework show." Ignis had been helping his mentor Cor crunch the numbers for weeks now. They had been preparing for an attack before they ever heard about the rumor for one.

Shinjuku was the center and eldest sector of Citadel, and an attack there now would not be the first time. It represented every walk and era of life from one street corner to the next. There were the shining, new buildings stretching into the air with the bold design of art deco. There were the old gothic cathedrals with their spiral towers and glaring gargoyles. There were streets filled with exotic vendors with rare items, offices of giant corporations, theaters for the great and the not so great performers. Models, actors, movie producers who either lived there are were conducting business. Not to mentions the Caelums' more legit and their not so much legit business.

Noctis scoffed. "That makes no sense. Blow a bomb up a bomb at a firework show?"

Ignis knew where Noctis was going with this thought. He had been thinking the same thing since he had found out what they were up against. "It would look too much like an accident," Ignis concluded for him. "Not to mention Cor already has heavy guards and snipers in the area."

Noctis shifted the gears and they put on an extra burst of speed at the mention of the word bomb. They were rushing down the highway at a speed the dial of the car couldn't read, but this didn't worry Ignis. Noctis was not a normal human. Car horns shrieked at them as they hurtled past, but faded quickly into the distance as Noctis weaved through the traffic. His eyes were still glued to the road when he spoke. "So they are going to attack the next heavily populated area in Citadel, but where is that?"

The answer came like a jolt to Ignis. He and Cor had been so focused on Shinjuku that they never once gave a second thought to the other option. "The Blitz Ball Game on the coast!"

He saw Noctis glance skeptically at him. "The stadium is only half full at best during New Years."

Ignis shook his head. "Tonight is the rival game. Not to mention there's a rumor the Songbird is putting on a show after the game."

"Who?" Noctis' voice was brimming over with impatience.

Ignis turned the volume up on the radio and turned the dial searching for the voice. "It's a ghost singer-"

"Have you lost your mind," Noctis voice swelled over the radio's music. "You realize you are talking about ghosts!"

"Not a ghost," he said as he quickly switched the dial back. "A mystery singer. No one knows who she is."

A slow jazz tune began to flow from the radio. It was more Noctis' style than her bouncy pop that was playing on every street corner and over every radio.

_Dearest the shadows  
I live with are numberless_

The woman's ethereal voice commanded their attention as she poured a part of herself into the words and Noctis looked at the dials thoughtfully.

"She sings jazz, pop . . . Everyone loves her songs. She has become a sensation, and tonight is her first public appearance," Ignis concluded. "Everyone will come because they want to know who she is."

"But it's just a rumor?"

"Maybe," Ignis shrugged.

"Maybe it's just a rumor to get more people in the audience."

Her haunting voice hung heavy on the air and Noctis listened on silence.

_Angels have no thought of ever returning you  
Would they be angry if I thought of joining you?_

"Who is she," Noctis asked as the thickening traffic forced them to slow, if only slightly.

"I don't know," Ignis admitted. He had the connections to dig into the secret face behind the voice, but he never had. He was secretly a fan of her jazz and her being a mystery seemed to make every new song that more interesting. Also, her secret identity never seemed to be a threat until now.

"There are eight million people in Citadel alone," Noctis said bitterly, turning the sad tune off. "How can no one know who one woman is?"

They were nearing Noctis' family home. Its gated wall loomed in the distance with the home's grand towers peaking over. In the dark night every window burned brightly with an inviting glow. The moon's light made crystals dance on the water beneath the small cliff that bordered the gardens.

They did not speak again while the heavily guarded iron gate slowly opened. Noctis killed the car just outside the massive front door and was quick to leave the car, but he didn't turn towards the house. He was already headed back out the gate.

"Noctis," Ignis shouted after him.

"Tell Cor about the bomb and find out everything you can about this ghost singer," he commanded as he continued to walk away. "No one knows who she is and tonight she decides to make an appearance just when we find out a bomb is being planted . . . I don't think that's coincidence."

In an instant the tall figure of Noctis was gone, but a blue silhouette of his form briefly lingered behind. Ignis knew Noctis was planning to stop the bomb himself, somehow. Ignis turned to the west wing where Cor would be. Sure enough he was inside, surrounded by a team of men all bent over a map of the area.

"Ignis! We got your message. We already have the bomb team sweeping the area and the-"

"You're looking in the wrong place," Ignis interrupted.

Every head that was bent over the table snapped to look at Ignis. Cor's face hardened as he straightened to better glare at Ignis. Ignis could feel the tension in the room getting thicker. "Setting off a bomb during a firework show would look too much like an accident. They are going to go for the Blitz Game. That's where the most people will be second Shinjuku."

Cor's eyes were bearing into Ignis in disbelief and anger. He could feel the eyes, including those of his friends Prompto and Gladiolus watching him anxiously. No one ever challenged Cor, let alone mention the word wrong.

"The Blitz Game?" Cor scoffed in disbelief. "We already got all our men in Shinjuku. That's where the peace conference will be held. That's where the most people are. That's where Regis will be."

Cor turned his back on Ignis and bent over the table when Ignis snapped. "They know that's where you're expecting them. That's why attacking where there's no help, no defense is the better options! You've got to listen-"

"That's enough," Cor roared over him. His face was patchy with fury and his fist slammed onto the table. "We don't have time for this. There is a bomb, hell maybe even several bombs out there, and if we don't find it now_ our_ people in _our_ city are going to die!"

Cor's glare was daring Ignis to challenge him again, but Ignis knew Cor was never going to listen. He had approached it wrong by accusing them of looking in the wrong place, and Cor was not going to let that go. "You're so hard headed that innocent people are going to die."

Something cold and fearful flashed over Cor's face and Ignis knew he wanted nothing more than to hit him. Instead he shook his head and turned back towards the map. His voice was coolly calm when he said, "You are too green Ignis. Once you've gotten some people killed cause you're too eager, you'll understand. Prompto, Gladiolus. Get him out of here."

Ignis' friends exchanged glances with each other, but quickly wiped all expression off their face. In silence they left the room after Ignis and did not speak until they had reached the cobble stone driveway.

"Man," Prompto drew the word out and laughed. "That was intense!"

"I was thinking we were about to see some action," Gladiolus chimed.

"I bet Ignis would have won," Prompto elbowed Ignis playfully.

"No way- no offense Ignis," Gladiolus added. "Cor might be an old timer, but he could take down an entire army if he wanted! Ignis here wouldn't stand a chance."

"Oh yeah! How much you wanna bet?"

They were all headed to the car and Ignis understood. Cor might not believe Ignis was right, but he also knew Gladiolus and Prompto would believe him. He knew they wouldn't try and stop Ignis and he probably already guessed that Noctis must already be searching for the bomb. If Ignis was wrong, no harm done. Better safe than sorry.

"Sixty."

Prompto shook his head. "No, not money. Something better. You lose, you gotta cut that mullet-"

"It's not a mullet-"

"Cause honestly man it just looks creepy. That's why all the girls go running when you walk into a room!"

Ignis listened on in silence as he opened the car's door and they followed suit. The veins on Gladiolus bulging muscles were twitching with annoyance suddenly. All the better, Ignis thought, they would need Gladiolus angry for whatever battle they might be having tonight. Prompto was grinning ear to ear, pleased with his cleverness as usual.

"Well if you lose then you have to shave those girl bangs off!"

"Girl bangs?"

"Yeah. You wonder why you're single? What girl wants to date a man who looks prettier than her?"

"Take that back," Prompto shouted ready to plunge into the backseat where Gladiolus now sat with a gloating smile.

"You know what," Gladiolus put his hands behind his head as the car began its drive. "You look like a Chelsea. I'm gonna start calling you that. Chelsea."

"Why you!"

Not Prompto's finest come-back. Ignis waved at the guard opening the gate just as Prompto lunged into the backseat for a fight.

* * *

Tidus steeled himself for what was about to come. When _they_ had first approached him, he thought it was a joke. Then he realized how serious they were. Serious enough to kill him if he didn't play ball, bad pun intended. So he was going to do it. He was going to throw it all away. His reputation, his father's name (not that he was ever proud of it), his teams winning streak, everything was going to hell.

Then he thought about Yuna.

He thought about the night he had first met her. He had been on that dance floor with Stella, who he had known for years. She was on the rebound from some recent break up and they were so close he could feel something changing between them. He knew it would be a bad idea to be more that friends with Stella, but he was young and she was beautiful. She wouldn't be the first, and she knew him well enough to know she wouldn't be the last.

He was going to make his move when he saw Stella watching someone with peculiar surprise. He followed her gaze to see her standing atop the dance floor's stairs. She was holding onto a small white clutch like an offering to the world she had just stepped into. She wore a beaded white dress that was too modest for the crowd around her, yet still managed to tease the imagination. Her brown bob ended with pristine curls that drew the eyes to her baby pink lips. They were open just so slightly with an expression of doubt, but it was her eyes that told him everything.

They were windows into her, and he just wanted to stare into them and get lost in whoever he was. Those eyes were wide with awe and fear and even doubt. It was so obvious to him, to anyone, that she was a beauty that didn't belong there in the night hidden in the shadowy, immoral speakeasy. She belonged in the sun for all to see.

He hadn't realized he had even left Stella on the dance floor. He was standing at the foot of the stairs, mesmerized by her eyes that were watching his every move with startled interest. He was so lost in them he hadn't even realized they were each a different color.

"I'm glad to see you." His voice came out much more shaky than he had ever heard it.

That was when she gave him that modest, shy smile with those doll cheeks that he adored now. "I'm glad to see you too."

He just stood there like a fool grinning his goofy smile up at her. She must have thought he was drunk, but the truth was he was only drunk from her beauty. He had not had a single drink that night. Since that night, she had entranced him.

He had wanted many women, but Yuna put all those old feelings to shame. She was pure enough to wipe his slate clean and make him want to be the man who deserved an angel like her. That was why he would have to tell him no.

Now he waited silently in the shadows, feeling like a criminal and thinking of how Yuna would only be disappointed if she knew that he had given in so easily.

"Why did you contact me, Tidus?"

He snapped out of his thoughts by that angry, gruff voice. He turned to see Cerebus standing at the end of the corridor. He couldn't see his face in the shadows casted from his black fedora, but he was sure it was him by his broad figure and heavy, expensive over coat.

"I can't do it Cerebus," Tidus forced his voice to sound powerful and in control. "I can't throw the game."

His words hung heavily in the air between them. In the long moment that followed those same words he had been so eager get out of him, now seemed to want desperately to be taken back. They pressed down onto, pushed by Cerebus' intense stare.. It hurt his chest to push back and breath. Was this how it felt when you knew you were going to be murdered?

"You can't, or you _won't_ throw the game, Mister Tidus." Cerebus did not sound angry, but more like a man asking a simple question. Even his walk was casual, smooth, and unbothered.

He stopped just a few inches away from him. Tidus' father was right. Tidus was foolish, impulsive, and a little too green, but he wasn't an idiot. He knew for whom Cerebus really worked. He knew what saying no to _him_ meant, but then there was Yuna's smiling face in his mind with those full cheeks and sparkling eyes. "I won't."

Cerebus looked Tidus up and down. He seemed to be measuring up his opponent with an amused expression. Maybe this would be when he called out two burly men to drag Tidus "out back" and "teach him a lesson." The opposite of what he was expecting happened though. A smile broke out on Cerebus face.

"A loyal man, I see. Don't want to betray your team. My boss can appreciate a loyal man Mr. Tidus." Cerebus opened his arms wide in a gesture of good will. "Don't worry about the game. Our plans have changed for the evening, and who wins or loses is no longer beneficial to our business."

Tidus stood there for a moment with a dumbfounded expression. He had to repeat the words back in his head. "Oh-uh." He scratched the back of his head in his confusion. "I-understand?"

"Good luck in your game." Cerebus smiled tapping Tidus' cheek affectionately before turning around, but Tidus was sure he could hear the undertone of menace. "Like your father used to say, strong men win all."

* * *

Ignis stepped out of his car and into the frenzied crowd. There was so much movement, so much noise, so much excitement it made him dizzy.

"Tidus is gonna win this for us!"

"Oh he's so dreamy!"

"Forget the game! I wanna see the girl!"

"Oh I love her music!"

"This is gonna be the most epic night ever!"

The crowd's hysteria was contagious and Prompto had already caught it. He was already well ahead of them, weaving through the people with grace. "Hurry up! Let's find this bomb so we can see this singer woman in action!"

"Yeah," Gladiolus agreed. "I wanna see the last half of this game!"

They passed through the ticket stand after the guard got a good look at their faces. The crowd seated above them now erupted into cheers as the announcer shouted with extreme animation, "Tidus scores the third goal! 3 to 2 with only five minutes left in the first half!"

The three of them split up as if this had been planned. Beneath the stadium was a labyrinth of tunnels for the workers, the sewers, the locker rooms, and the platform stage for when concerts where given. The stage was where Ignis would be headed.

He headed down an empty stairwell without being noticed. Crowds of people were packed inside and outside around large television screens watching as the game unfolded and oblivious to the sprinting figure. He could only imagine how stuffed the large stadium was. The tunnels were empty leading towards the stage. It would be the most dramatic and hidden place to hide the bomb.

The stage remained underground until a concert was given. They opened back the fake grass field and then lifted the stage high enough into the air so that all could see. Since blitz games never had a show during the break, and he had feeling tonight wouldn't be any different so no one ever needed to inspect the stage.

He turned the corner and paused. Lying on the ground, unconscious, was a single security guard. That wasn't what froze him though.

"In position. It's show time."

He couldn't see her face, but he knew that voice better than his own. Her long blond hair tumbled down her back with a few perfect braids that ended in feathered ties. Her short yellow dress hugged her curves in all the right places.

"Rikku?"

She swung her hair around, staring at him in surprise. She flashed a dimple, half smile as she recognized his shocked face. Her green eyes, with the swirling black center, were hypnotic. This was his worse nightmare.

"Are you stalking me," she teased with a wink.

She was staling. He stalked over to her, his terror and rage building up inside of him ready to explode. It did the moment he was in arms reach of her. He grabbed her wrist just as she realized this wasn't a friendly visit, but she was too slow. He jerked her furiously, grabbing the small mike on her plush red scarf. He snatched it off and threw it far behind them.

"What have you done Rikku? What have you done?"

She managed to yank her tiny wrist free and pushed him away. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

The thought of her being there, of being a part of this made him physically sick, but her playing innocent was like a slap in the face. "You think we wouldn't figure out what was happening tonight? You think we were just gonna stand by and let it happen?"

"Did you hit your head or something?" Rikku's face contorted in anger, but all it did was make her look adorable. That infuriated him more.

"Of all the people . . . I never thought _you_ would be involved in this!" He sneered, his fist shaking as he restrained himself from slapping her. Traitor or not, she was still a woman.

She threw her hands up in exasperation, the anger completely gone from her face and replaced with bewilderment and annoyance. "Ok! Fine! You caught me. I'm helping The Songbird crash the Blitz Game. I am the most horrible person in the world. Throw me away copper! Lock me up!"

He rushed over to her in one step, his hands raised like he was going to strike, but he reminded himself he was a gentleman. "Don't play stupid, Rikku. You come from Accordo. Your people are the best with machina and weapon development. Your father's Cid and he _loves_ explosives."

She was staring up into his face with a patronizing expression. "Yes Cid is my father. He likes to blow things up. My name is Rikku. You are Ignis. I'm wearing a yellow dress. Should we list some more obvious things?"

"Where's the bomb Rikku!"

"Bomb?" She laughed. "What bomb!"

"We found in the underground where they were hiding! We found the tools! We even have a witness who saw the bomb," he bluffed. "I know the bomb is going to be set off tonight during the game. Now _where_ is it?"

"You _have_ lost your mind, dear Ignis," her voice fluttered with laughter.

"I might not hurt you Rikku, but Noctis and his father will _not_ be so kind." The threatening words physically hurt to pull out, but he had no choice. He couldn't let innocent people die, even if by her hand."Tell me where the bomb is so I don't have to get Regis involved."

A buzzer went off from over head in the distance, followed by the cheering crowd. The patronizing smile was slowly fading from Rikku's face. Her hypnotic green eyes were growing wide and bright as the meaning settled in. "You think there's a bomb_ here?_ Oh! No! Yunie!"

She twirled around faster than he could react and she was barreling down the corridor. Her powerful voice was full of distress as she screamed, "Yunie! Yunie!"

"Rikku! Stop!" He called out after her, but she was turning corners without pausing.

He put on a burst of speed and skidded to a stop around the last corner. They were in a large opening where the stage was already rising. Strapped to the machina raising it was a flashing red light connected to a bundle of C-4 explosives.

"Oh no," she whispered.

She slid to her knees shouting something, but the deafening roar of the crowd drowned her words out. Music was suddenly pounding out from the stadium's speakers. All above him and all around the stadium the anticipation had reached its climax. The crowd was going wild over whatever the announcer was saying, but his voice was just a buzzing amongst the screams.

"What are you doing," Ignis bellowed over the noise rushing over to pull Rikku away.

She snapped at him with a blade in her hand, freezing him in his tracks. "I'm disarming this!"

He stood back as she began to unscrew the outside box that held the ticking numbers. Four minutes and thirty seconds. Ignisr reached into his pockets and pulled the cell phone out. Telegrams were Cor's method of communication, but it was out fashioned and slow. His message to Noctis was short.

Rikku pulled the box apart to expose the wire guts. They twisted around each other in various colors to a fuse box in the center and then back out. As she examined it a flash of light caught Ignis' eyes and Noctis was suddenly standing beside him. He looked from Ignis to Rikku and then back. "Cid's girl?"

Ignis could see that accusatory and understanding look flash across Noctis' eyes. He seemed to be thinking the same thing Ignis had, that her being the bomber made the most sense. "She's trying to disarm it," Ignis answered.

Noctis raised his eyebrow in doubt. Rikku snapped, "I have a name you know!"

Noctis' face returned to the default and emotionless expression. Now high above them, the crowd was watching in exuberance as their mystery girl was revealed for the first time. Her black mini skirt and lavender sash swayed seductively with the movement of her hips. Her purple vest lined with white ruffles met just above the naval exposing only a modest amount of skin. Her warm brown hair flared out just below the chin and they knew they were watching a star being born.

Yuna let the music take over her. She was blind to the crowd to everything save her music. The crowds cheers were just as much a part of her song as she was and she let it connect her to them and erase any fear she had had only seconds ago. Below her Rikku could no longer hear the music, the crowd, or the men's voices behind her. All she could hear was the steady thumping of her heart that grew faster with each passing minute.

"She's not going to get it in time," Noctis snapped as he caught a glimpse of the dwindling time clock.

"If anyone can, she can," Ignis said dryly, his eyes glued to the small figure now frozen in front of the wires.

She smiled to herself, pleased at her own cunning, and turned to them. Ignis might be trying to play sweet now, but she wasn't going to let him get away for man handling her before. Bomb or no bomb. "I told you, I got a name. It's Rikku and now you both owe me."

She snapped the wires and the ticking clock stopped at ten seconds to spare. Relief filled both Ignis and Noctis' faces. Above, Yuna ended her song with a blast of dazzling, silver fireworks around the stage's edge. The roar of the crowd was all around her. The fireworks were her cover to make her escape before anyone could catch her and reprimand her from crashing the game, or learn who she was, but she had frozen with the crowd's standing applause.

The ground was shaking violently. The crowd was slowly beginning to quiet and she could hear the gasps slowly sounding off around her. A growing light was hurtling through the tops of the towering buildings surrounding the half of the stadium. Her eyes grew wide with fire and fear. Erupting around the stadium's edges was a wall of fire, rubble, and approaching death.


	4. Chapter 3 Slayers and Summoners

Wrote this chapter while watching the new FFXV trailer/gameplay. Music inspired.

* * *

**Chapter 3 Slayers and Summoners**

"Let me go!" Rikku shrieked furiously, her arms and legs aiming for any part of Ignis' body she could reach. "Yunie!"

"That sounded like another bomb," Noctis stated, ignoring Rikku's screams.

A symphony of screams came softly at first, and then swelled into panic. Ignis didn't respond to Noctis, struggling to hold Rikku still. She was a head shorter and with such a slender frame, it seemed impossible for her to escape Ignis' iron bear hug.

Another distance explosion roared through the screams. Rikku grew deadly still as the crowd's hysteric footsteps rolled like thunder. Their screams were tormenting to the ears and Noctis watched the color drain out of Ignis and Rikku's face simultaneously.

Noctis didn't see it coming, nor did Ignis. With a snap of her neck, Rikku slammed her head back into Ignis' face. He yelped as her skull contacted with his nose and he he was forced to let go. Rikku pushed off him and sprinted forward.

Noctis moved out of the way to let her run past him. He looked back at Ignis who was glaring at him with blood trickling out of his nose. "Thanks for the help!"

"Let her go. Where's Cor?"

"Still in Shinjuku-"

"What!"

"He didn't believe me." Ignis snapped, pinching his bloody nose.

Noctis wanted to scream every vulgar word he could think, but he knew it would do no good. He had to act. "Go to the security booth. Try to help calm the crowd and keep them in the stadium. It's the safest now with the bomb disarmed. It won't take Cor long to find out what happened and send men."

Ignis nodded, mopping up the last of the blood before Noctis disappeared from the stadium's underground and into the streets. It was a different kind of chaos now. Moments ago where crowds of people had gathered around the giant monitors in anticipation, now lay lifeless bodies. People were running aimlessly in all direction with terrified expressions. Noctis made a step forward to call their attention when the sounds of guns fired off in the distance.

New screams erupted as the aimless crowd suddenly changed their direction. Noctis wasted no time in running towards the sound of guns. The hysteric crowd pushed against, crying women, bleeding men, parentless children. He tried not to look at the faces as they kept sweeping by him.

He stepped out of crowd and into the plaza just as the ground began to shake beneath them. Blazing fire erupted from the towering statues that guarded the plaza entrance. Noctis shielded his face as large chunks of stone were hurtled his way.

"Watch out!"

Through the clearing smoke he could see flashes of light and moving shadows. The guns were sounding off again and he recognized two of the voices shouting through the haze.

"He's got a grenade!"

"What are you waiting for? Shoot him dammit!"

Noctis lunged through the smoke to see Prompto sliding on the ground with his gun raised. He fired three shots at a soldier wearing a bright red bandana over his face. The grenade in the rebel soldier's hand fell and exploded on the ground in front of him. Prompto didn't pause, rolling out of the line of fire and taking aim at the next red bandana soldier aiming at Gladiolus. Gladiolus rammed his broad blade sword into a soldier, pinning him to the stonewall of a skyscraper.

Prompto took out the two soldiers rushing Gladiolus' side and they fell forward to the ground. The third reached Gladiolus, but he had already pulled out his sword. Twisting he swung the sword around like a bat and rammed it into the soldier side. The soldiers were rounding the buildings with raised weapons, ducking behind toppled vehicles, and there were still more coming too. At least ten on the ground and eight more climbing down the tall buildings with ropes.

The humming started like a soft whisper in his ears. He could feel it vibrating in his chest with a life all its own. Its humming power spread through his body and he could feel its presence like another living being within him. Noctis summoned his favorite sword and lunged into the battle. He swiped at two soldiers aiming with machine guns at Prompto who was taking cover behind a broken chunk of building. They fell to the ground as bullets from Prompto's gun flew past Noctis' head and into the neck of another soldier near by.

Gladiolus slammed a soldier head first into the pavement. Over the motionless body he shouted, "We got things down here, take care of the men up top."

He looked up to where the soldiers on the surrounding buildings were making their way down via ropes. He threw his sword so it speared the nearest to the ground. The energy was a burning force eager to escape his body and the familiar sense of his heart being ripped from him rushed through him.

The sound of the battle was a distant echo from the ground below him as his fist griped the sword. He could see the tops of his friends' heads far below him as he hung by one hand with his sword. He tightened his grip on the sword and he vanished, leaving behind only the lingering outline of his shape.

He reappeared, suspended in the air of the next building. He chopped the rope holding two soldiers. They screamed as they fell to the ground and he moved onto the next victim. Noctis sliced at his red armored body. With a few strokes he too was falling, silently.

Below a grenade flew into the air and Prompto fired a single shot. It exploded in the air above the rebels' heads. Gladiolus lunged into the heart of them as they shielded themselves from the blast. With a mighty swing of his sword he knocked them to the ground as Prompto continued firing into those still standing.

Several feet above, Noctis was making quick work of slicing through the building-scouring soldiers. They crashed against the ground sounding like small bombs themselves, but Prompto and Gladiolus hardly noticed. A blue trail of light and the faint shape of Noctis' body lingered behind from where each victim fell. Noctis beat the last falling body to the ground, plunging his sword into the ground. He swung around the hilt like a pole, kicking several men to the ground. Prompto shot one final round into a soldier and Gladiolus cut through two more with one final swing of his blade.

The three men stood breathing heavy over the motionless bodies and rubble. The sword in Noctis hand faded away and Prompto reloaded his weapon. Ignis' voice sounded in their ears through the speaker communication they carried. "Cor's men are on their way. They will guard the stadium's entrance, but there are more rebels in Citadel's street."

"You heard him," Prompto shouted as he ran away from the stadium, waving them on. "Real live action!"

Noctis looked into the sky and saw the light's ghostly glow burning into the sky. Without a word he and Gladiolus followed Prompto silently further into the streets. None of them saw the girl rushing out of the Stadium's doors behind them. Yuna hesitated just outside the entryway and gasped in horror. Around her lay corpses, rebel soldiers, and burning rubble.

She turned her face to the sky and saw the golden light burning brighter in the sky with each new death. She knew they didn't have a lot of time, but she could already hear more screams and guns sounding off in the distance like a never ending war cry.

"Yunie!"

She whirled around to see Rikku running through the gates towards her. Her yellow dress was gone, replaced with brown shorts, yellow top, and sleeves tied together with a dozen perfect bows. "Oh Yunie! You are alright! Tidus! She's here!"

Yuna's heart leaped to see Tidus running to her. His blond hair bouncing in his eyes, his boyish grin growing as he saw her. He wrapped his strong arms around her and picked her into the air with a sigh of relief. "I was so scared you were hurt!"

"I'm fine," she said as he sat her back onto the ground, "but I must perform the sending or the fiends will be coming."

"Are you mad," Tidus shouted. "You could be killed."

"I'm a summoner, Tidus. I have no choice," she said firmly, but not without the tinge of fear. "Where's Stella?"

"Um . . . Yunie," Rikku pulled on Yuna's sleeve.

Rikku's turned her head towards the plaza and her green eyes grew wide. Yuna followed her gaze and tensed. Rikku's voice was a squeak. "I think it's too late."

Thump . . .Thump . . . Thump. Through the still curling, gray smoke the monster was stalking towards them, gazing on them like prey. It was just a shadow with piercing gold eyes at first, but as its massive body emerged, its hideous face was revealed. Bloody fangs were bared under a dripping snout. Two razor horns curled into the air and pointed menacingly at them. Thick, open, wounds lined the monster's back and its blood blazed like fire. The Behemoth monster paused in the ruined opening and dug its claws into the concrete like dirt.

Yuna bore her staff before her and the Behemoth roared violently in response, showing his mouth full of razor teeth. Yuna jerked the staff forward and large shards of ice cut into him. It roared up on its back legs with a howl of pain as Rikku threw grenades at its feet. They exploded, further angering the beast. Tidus followed up with a slice of his sword against the softer underbelly. He lunged to the side narrowly missing the massive paws that slammed back into the concrete creating small craters.

Rikku leaped on the creature's neck with red blades and dug them into the creature's neck. She didn't attempt to pull them loose, jumping off the back to Tidus as Yuna let another ice spell loose. The monster swiped at the ground blinded with pain. Tidus rolled out of the way and jumped to grab the horn to climb up. He stabbed the sword in the monster eye to blind him, but he wasn't fast enough to miss the paw that slammed into him.

"Tidus!"

Rikku and Yuna screamed in unison as he slammed into a building and slid down its wall. Yuna's fear fueled her swirling ice spell and the monster was encased in razor shards of frozen ice. Its enraged roars softened to pained whines, falling to his stomach. In the distant another explosion sounded.

Rikku used the monster's moment of weakness to jump onto the neck where her blades were still buried. She pulled them out, gaining another roar of pain from the beast. As it stood on weak legs, she slid down the neck's side, digging the blades deeper into his throat. As her feet hit the ground, the monster crashed to its stomach.

"Did we get him," Tidus' head popped up over a fallen beam.

"We got one," Yuna said. "But more are coming."

They both looked to the towering buildings. They could hear the creaking of a building giving way. In the clear air above the roads they saw a building peeking around the rest. There was a rumbling and it slowly began to fall forward with a sickening groan. Beneath it, Noctis, Gladiolus, and Prompto stopped to avoid being crushed.

Noctis created a shield around the three of them just as the building smashed into the ground. An impenetrable cloud of smoke came hurling towards them filled with debris and then engulfed them.

"What the hell is going on," Prompto shouted.

"Looks like someone is creating a war," Noctis noted.

"Who though?" Gladiolus asked, looking into the gray dust that encased them for answer. "And why the hell would they attack the blitz game?"

"Whoever they are," Noctis said coolly as the haze faded. "We will give them one hell of battle."

The street was covered in thick coat of grime now. The building now blocked the road ahead of them. Its glass shattered and lying in millions of glittering, sharp pieces.

"Go on ahead," Gladiolus gestured ahead as he and Prompto turned onto another street. "We will catch up."

Noctis reached the street on the other side in a matter of seconds and paused. He always though that she was the most beautiful when in the moonlight. She was standing over the lifeless body of one of _his_ men, looking down at him with a somber expression. Her black mini skirt swayed in the breeze and Noctis was being pulled to her, his body numb and his mind quieted by disbelief. Stella heard him coming towards her and turned her wide blue eyes on him.

He recognized that expression on her face. He saw it whenever she was thinking back to everything they had been through together. They had both seen so much death and suffering before they completed the first decade of their life, and it had somehow bounded them together. So he wasn't surprised when she came running to him like she had so many times before. What surprised him was the desire for her to already be near him and the sting when she suddenly stopped.

The purple light that weaved a faint trail through the air caressed her arm and stopped her in her tracks. Her fist balled angrily at her side as her eyes narrowed with bitterness. He could feel the anticipation building in his chest. He could hear the humming power around becoming a deafening roar in his ear as he reached into the empty air and the heavy weight of his sword filled his hand.

Golden light was forming around Stella like a halo as she summoned her own weapon. _Prince Noctis can see the light too? _Her teasing voice from floated from past memories. She brandished her sword threateningly with the crest burning golden light into the air behind her as a reminder why they could never have made it together.

* * *

"**So the kid was right?" **

Cor's voice was void of regret, anger, or any emotion for that matter as his eyes watched the oversized television. King Regis, whose back was to him, made no sign that he heard him. His posture was erect, his hands clasped behind his back. They watched the silent, flickering images of fire and destruction with stone faces.

"Of all places . . . a blitz ball game?" King Regis' voice was full of amusement as a camera mounted on the stadium zoomed in to watch a building leaning precariously in the distance.

The screen lit up with angry tones of red and orange as another explosion shook the ground, making the building shake violently before falling towards the street. Cor's fists tightened in quiet rage at what was happening to his home. "They wanted to take out the largest amount of civilians as possible and make sure it didn't look like an accident."

"Well they did a very good job, didn't they?" King Regis chuckled at the irony of it. "Do we know who is behind this yet?"

"No sir."

King Regis turned his attention away from the big screen. In the darken room and the screen behind him, it seemed like those images were nothing more than a bad movie. There were no echoes of screams or of explosions in that secluded room. At least, not yet.

"Why don't you tell me who you think is behind this, Johnny?"

"I told you," fear took his voice up an octave Cor had heard him reach yet. "I don't know. God, I swear to you I don't know who!"

Cor watched as King Regis shook his head sadly with a click of his tongue. He moved closer to Johnny with unhurried strides. "Oh, Johnny boy. Are you aware you are already dead?"

Johnny squirmed against the ropes that tied his hands and legs to the wooden chair. His eyes were glued to the table of tools that sat forebodingly between him and King Regis. They ranged from sharp knifes to blunt hammers. Some glinted eagerly, ready to be used for the first time. Others were dull, rusted, and stained with dry blood.

"At least," King Regis continued with a brush of his fingers over the table of tools, "that's what your boss, Mr. Fontaine told my boy. Said you got an eye full of something in those underground tunnels you weren't suppose to and it got you killed. And if you are already dead, that means I don't have to worry about how much time I have with you before someone starts looking for you. I don't know of many people who go looking for a dead man. Do you Cor?"

"No sir," Cor agreed.

A sheen of sweat was covering Johnny's pale face. His eyes swept to the tools and then to King Regis and back again. Cor could see the images playing out behind Johnny's eyes. Images of what King Regis might do with those tools. Still his response was, "I didn't see anything. They paid me off to not see anything and disappear. I swear to you King Regis! I didn't see a thing!"

His desperation was palpable in the silence that followed. King Regis used it to his advantage. He picked up one of the newer, sharper tools and admired it. Cor watched Johnny squirm desperately against the rope. A trail of sweat ran down his temples. King Regis put the tool down and turned to the television.

"Ah! Would you look at my boy."

All their eyes turned to the television where Prince Noctis briefly flashed by, falling freely in the air, and then disappeared. The scene changed to the angle of a different camera and they watched as Prince Noctis threw his sword into the armor of a rebel. The camera cut off just before any blood could be seen and then cut to the newscaster. The headlines beneath him read, _Prince Noctis protects his own city personally_.

"You know why I didn't name him Regis, like my father or my father and the many before?" King Regis the fourth turned back to Johnny who seemed to have calmed, if only slightly. "King was a mafia title from one of my grandfather's back when. He earned it working his way up the ranks from foot soldier to right hand man. My grandfather was blood family to the boss, but I don't have to explain to you the kind of things a man has to do to make his way up in the ranks- even if he shares the same name and blood."

King Regis sat down in a plush, black chair across from Johnny. Johnny's eyes had taken on a dullness that Cor had seen many times before. It was the blank, absent, acceptance. An acceptance of death and having no way to stop it.

"But what you don't know is all the horrible things he had to do to become the boss and stay on top." King Regis gave a heavy sigh. He watched his fingers as they began to tap out a slow beat on the chair's arm, and so did Johnny. "All the people that have to be tortured. All the people that have to be killed . . ."

Johnny's eyes were bright and wide again. They tried to stay on King Regis' tired face, but still drifted back to the tray of menacing tools. King Regis ran his hands across his graying hair that was elegantly slicked back. He then straightened the lapels of his black pin striped suit and stood back up.

"Times are changing though," King Regis continued. "I wanted my son to have a new name for the new times. The people of the city are freer now, and my son should be too. He should be out partying with this new generation, living life. I wanted a change for him, for our city. The people don't see us for the bank robbing, mafia hero they did back when government was corrupt and stealing their money. No. They see us as royalty who will lead them into a bright, new future. They see us as the last men strong enough to still have control over the last crystal and this is what this," he flourished at the screen full of fire now, "is all about after all."

King Regis picked up a rusted, blood stained knife. It became an extension of his hand, waving through the air as he continued speaking. Each word brightened the panic glow in Johnny's eyes like a cornered animal. Each word brought more fury into King Regis voice. "This is all about who can take away the final crystal, the power source to our city! This is all about who can cut down my family line, my family's power! Now. You saw who made those bombs and I _know_ you know who is behind all this! The only question is, how much of am I going to have to cut out of you to find the answer?"

* * *

**This was about the crystal, just as it had always been and would always be. **Now its power was coursing through him and pushing him forward to protect it. His body disappeared from sight, but Stella knew him well enough to recognize the direction of his movement. He slammed his sword against hers without mercy, but she was ready. The swords broke apart as he vanished once more leaving only the blue trail of light.

She spun around to where her back had been exposed and sliced into the air where Noctis was appearing once more. He jumped backwards just out of the swords range only a second before she could cut into him, but it didn't stop his onslaught. He flew back at her with more fury, and she met him with the same rage to match.

Their swords clang into each other and became just another part of the symphony of battle. Gun shots and running feet were still pounding out a chaotic beat, screams were reaching terrifying notes, and the crystal still hummed with life in Noctis' ears. Each swing of his sword was matched with a block from Stella's golden sword. She might not have the same power he had, but she had power all the same. She flourished her sword, the light playing tricks on his eyes and tricking him into making the wrong move. The tip of her sword grazed against his arm, cutting into his skin and searing from the burning metal.

The crystal's hum became an infuriated scream in his ears. He used his sword to push her sword away from him and high in the air. She lost her balance to his strength, stumbling backwards. Her stunned face, blue eyes wide and locked with his disappeared behind angry lights that burst before his eyes. They were as if someone had shaken out stars and they were falling violently between them. He felt his sword coming down. He felt the resistance as it sliced through something thick and alive, but he couldn't see what.

It was the pained shriek that cleared his vision. The sound silenced the humming in his ears. It cut off abruptly as his sword crashed to the ground, but the agony of it still resonated through his ears. Sickening, self-loathing rippled through him as he thought to himself, _I killed Stella._

* * *

"**Yuna watch out!"**

Tidus' panic was palpable in his scream. Yuna spun away from crumbling fiend and stared, terrified, into the faceless creature that glowered over her. Its massive sword was falling towards her, too dull to cut but heavy enough to smash her into nothing. She raised her gold staff above her head as a shield and tried to muster enough energy to perform a spell. She felt something weak ripple through her, saw a spark of light, and then it faded. She was going to die.

She closed her eyes tightly. Her ears began to ring with the clashing of metal. Its screeching sound made her cringe. She slowly opened her eyes when she realized the killing blow had not come. The monster was still towering above her, its sword rising into the air for another blow, but there was someone between them now.

A large, long sword was slung across his back, his gloved hand clasping it tightly. One sleeve of his red jacket hung limply without an arm to occupy it. His bare arm was holding up a jug, almost as if toasting the massive fiend. He flung it into the air then grasped the handle of his sword with both hands in front of him. A red aura began to glow around him. It wisped into the air and grew into flames. As the jug and the monster's sword came back down, he lunged forward. His sword, now searing red metal, cut through the jug and he passed through.

Yuna shielded herself as it exploded like the bombs around them had before. The monster let out a half roar, half groan, shaking the ground around them like thunder as it fell. The man in the red jacket jumped into the air and plunged his sword into the creature's heart. It withered beneath him, fading into a swarm of swirling orbs of lights they called fireflies.

"Yuna, are you alright?"

Tidus dropped his sword at her feet and pulled her into his strong arms. She struggled against him trying to catch a glimpse of the man who had saved her life. "I'm fine. What about you?"

He let her pull away and she looked into his face. Despite all the chaos and death around them, his smile made the world bright for a moment. Her chest constricted in a pleasing way, making it hard to breath as his electric blue eyes searched her face longingly.

"You kids should be getting home. It's not safe."

They both turned to the man in the red jacket who had spoken with a husky, unnerved voice. His jacket was pulled back over the shoulder that had been bare a moment ago. It was used as a sling for the arm that did not grip the sword. He peered at the two of them over his dark glasses with his one good eye. The other was closed with a long angry scar cutting over his eyebrow, eyelid, and down his cheek. The black hairs on his head were slicked back and peppered with gray. His look was that of an enforcer for a Mafia family.

"Do you think?" Tidus attempted a joke, but the man's face remained sullen.

Yuna looked at the destruction behind him and noticed something was missing. "Tidus where's Rikku?"

He looked around and didn't spot her either. "Rikku!"

It was a short moment before her voice floated back to them. "Tidus! Yuna! Come quick!"

Tidus hand was firm around her hand as he pulled her in the direction of Rikku's voice. They hurtled past the silent man still watching them over his dark glasses. Yuna looked back over her shoulder as she was dragged over the broken road and couldn't help but think she should recognize his face.

"Yuna!"

Rikku's voice was filled with panic and they put on a burst of speed as they entered the intersection and turned towards where Yuna's home would be. Tidus was the first to stop moving. The flame's orange glow was casted on his face, making shadows dance as the wind fanned the gathering flames. Yuna kept moving though, taking a few numb steps towards Rikku.

The homes that lined the street on each side were silent witnesses to the fire blazing from Yuna's home. Their windows were dark and the street was empty. It was as if the battle happening around them had ignored everything in this quiet part of town, save Yuna's home.

"Yunie." Rikku's voice was soft, but Yuna could hear the urgency.

She turned to see Rikku bent over someone. She heard a gargled cough and rushed over to kneel over him. Rikku stepped away to give her space and Yuna had to fight to keep her face from showing her horror. The man was laying in a pool of his own blood, staring up at her with bleeding eyes. His face was a mask of red, welted skin that was charred and unrecognizable.

Yuna's voice escaped her in a terrified sigh, "What happened to you?"

His eyes squinted in pain as his mouth worked to form words. His breath was coming out in hitching sighs Yuna had heard before from the dying. "Bomb. It was a bomb!"

Yuna's chest was constricting again, but this time it was painful. She had to fight to get the scratchy breath out, making her chest feel raw. The man beneath her winced, his breath hitching once more as if he was gasping in pain. He held it for a moment, his eyes wide as if he was seeing death walking to him now. Then it let it out in a long sigh as the light left his eyes.

"What he say Yunie?" Rikku's voice was childlike with sadness.

Yuna forced herself to look away from the dead eyes and into the fire that had caused it. It was rising hirer and hirer in the sky. Sirens were screaming in the distance, but the sound came to her as if down a long tunnel.

"There was a bomb . . . in my home."

* * *

**Memories were flashing before Noctis' eyes.** Each memory created a wave of nausea and despair and he was struggling to breath. Stella was dead, he knew it, and he had killed her. Each memory was painfully vivid. The first time they met and they were forced to dance at the ball together. They had snuck off and threw water balloons off the balcony. Her childish laughter was ringing in his ears as if it were happening now. _I can't stay any longer_, her voice full of regret floated to him from the past. The moment he knew he wanted her, when she wearing that white dress and watching the sky.

He picked the sword from the ground and leaned against it for support, careful not to look where she must be lying lifeless on the ground. The world was swirling around him in a dizzying array of grays. Another memory slammed into him, making him gasp for air. The night she snuck into his room and whispered that she would rather die than let the war tear them apart. _My heart won't let go_, he had said. The taste of her lips was sweet on his lips, but the most painful memory of all followed.

Her small hand in his on the anniversary of his mother death, the day a bombing had killed countless innocence in an attempt to kill him and his father. They were going to escape together. They were going somewhere far, far away to be together. _I swear I will protect you_, he had told her.

He had lied.

"Noctis! Where are you?"

Noctis reacted automatically. He looked up from the ground for the source of Prompto's voice, and felt the air being knocked out of him.

"Stella," he whispered.

She was alive! She stood far from his reach, silent and unmoving. Something angry and sorrowful was rippling behind her ocean blue eyes. Her sword was gone, the hand that had held it now held pressure on the gash across her shoulder and arm. Blood was dripping down her arm and soaking into her white shirt.

"Stella," he said again and she backed away.

Sirens were screaming around them, fueling his sudden panic. Prompto and Gladiolus were both shouting his name now. Thunder, or an explosion, was rumbling in the distance. Yet he couldn't move. Relief and self-loathing was crashing through him and the light in Stella's eyes was growing cold.

"Noctis!"

A golden light was burning behind her and she stepped back into it. Her eyes never left Noctis. He could see the regret and hatred surging behind them and he knew he deserved it. She was brimming with unspoken words of rage, fury, and regret. He could feel them humming inside her, like the crystal's power that was humming inside him again.

The light consumed her and she was gone just as Prompto and Gladiolus stepped into the street. His eyes were still full of that lingering, golden light and he suddenly realized that during those stolen nights he had spent with her, he had never once told her he loved her.

* * *

R&R, subscribe for updates, or do whatever you like. Hope you enjoyed. I enjoyed writing it from midnight till four in the morning.


	5. Chapter 4 The Day After

Hello! :)

* * *

**Chapter 4: The Day After**

_Fiends and soldiers in the street! The count of those injured in the hundreds and those dead, double and the count keeps rising! This weekend was to be the annual peace conference, held here in our sparkling home, Lucis. This would make the fifteenth year of peace and the fifteenth conference involving all the ruling countries, Tenebrea, Accordo, Nefheilm, and Lucis. It would be foolish to believe that last night's . . . attack is a coincidence! _

_People are in a panic! Talks of war are on everyone's tongue! This morning King Lucis addressed the public with these words. _

Noctis sat with his head resting against his hand, emotionally drained from the night but there was a restlessness in his mind. The black leather passenger seat was plush, but he couldn't seem to get comfortable. The city passing by his window was outlined with the fiery glow of dawn. It looked peaceful and powerful in its blanket of light. Windows glinted from high above with promise of luxury that only his city could hold. It was hard to imagine that such terror had taken place in these grand streets only last night. King Lucis' deep and commanding voice was speaking to his son through the car's speakers.

"The peace conference will continue as planned, but we are taking every precaution to ensure our guests are safe, and to find the terrorists that attacked our wonderful home! Rest assured that whoever did this will pay and pay dearly. We are not weak! We are not cowards! We will hunt these men to the ends of the earth if necessary and my son and I will see to it personally that they _never_ have the chance to strike at us again!"

There were cheers that erupted from the speakers, distant to Prince Noctis. More words from the newsman ensued, but they no longer meant anything to him. He was listening instead to the constant, low humming of the crystal. It was safe and its murmur was a comfort to him. It was very much alive, just as much as he and his father, or as Stella or this city was. It was once the sister of many crystals, sparkling high in the sky until one of God's angels plucked it and planted it like a seed into the earth as a gift to struggling humans wandering the Earth, or that was how the bedtime story went anyway.

It was as constant as the rivers flowing through his city. It was as permanent as the heavens and it had heard and seen the world's secrets and sometimes it shared them with Noctis. That was why he could summon his weapons in the heat of battle. That was why he could disappear and reappear in another part of the world at will. That was why he knew where _she_ would be this morning.

He took out the folded picture to stare once more at the image captured there. "Are you sure this is her?"

The crystal's hum became a song of confirmation and he knew it was her, but still Prompto answered. "Sure is such a strong word . . . I'm mostly sure. I just go where I'm told. I hope so, though, she's quite the sheba, don't you think?"

Her picture was already in the news, a smaller spot on the front page than it deserved second to the attacks. They were deeming her the embodiment of the reckless age this generation had found itself living in since the war. She daringly sashayed onto the stage uninvited, unknown to everyone and kidnapped their attention with her sensual song and dance. She was a mystery to the world, like all the glittering girls a man would find amongst the whispering and the jazz of the speakeasies. She was bold with her short skirt. She was the flapper's flapper with her bobbed brown hair, and there was more life captured in that smiling face than he himself had felt since his mother's death.

Her brown hair swept the air suspended forever in dance. Her eyes were sparkling stars in the night lit by stage lights. A flirtatious smile was frozen forever in that picture. Was she smiling for the crowd listening to what should have been her final song, or was she smiling for the sake of her scandalous debut?

"So are we picking her up for questioning," Prompto persisted when Noctis remained silent. "Or were you hoping to ask her for a date personally?"

"Do you ever stop talking," Noctis retorted. "Or do you just not know how to shut your mouth?"

Prompto let go of the wheel and covered his chest in a mock gesture of pain. "Ouch Noc. That hurt. Why must you treat me so?"

"Just drive," Noctis demanded, although it was hard to keep the amusement from his voice..

Prompto saluted him mockingly. "Ay, ay captain!"

* * *

"**We have to stop her." **Tidus' voice had takenon a whining quality that grated at Stella's nerves. She shot him a dirty look, but it didn't register with him and he continued. "She's too weak for this! There's too many! She needs to rest! She's been healing the wounded all night and fighting the fiends! Stella can't you do it instead!"

"She's not that kind of summoner, Tidus," Rikku's voice was patient, unlike the way Stella was feeling now.

He threw his hands into the air in some kind of gesture of defeat, but it didn't shut him up."Can't you talk her out of performing the sending, Stella! It's too dangerous and she could-"

"Tidus," Stella finally snapped, although her docile voice made it impossible for even her to hear the annoyance in it. "When have I – when has _anyone_ been able to talk Yuna out of doing anything she's decided to do."

"She's right you know," Rikku yawned. She was stretched out on the sand, looking carefree and stunning with her tanned skin a shade Stella's could never quiet reach. "The more you try, the more stubborn she gets. It's a lost cause."

Tidus turned his boyish face from Stella and began to pester Rikku. She was thankful for the peace and joined Rikku in the sand. The sky was beginning to take on the same pink hue that had always accompanied it, but for the first time in Stella's short life there was something sinister hiding. Mixed in its growing light was something dark, and she decided it wasn't the dawn itself that was different, but the eyes she was seeing with.

She had seen this same flushed light of morning with the fervid eyes of love after passionate, secret nights with Noctis. She had seen this same radiating dawn with glossy eyes after a night of bubbling champagne and sparkling dresses, but this was the first time she had seen this light with eyes of betrayal, hurt, and hate.

"It could kill her you know!" He was standing over the both of them now with fist clenched. "Or worse, drive her insane! She can't do this!"

"You're over reacting drama king!" Rikku giggled, but it was forced and humorless. "Yuna knows her limits."

"Yeah, but she likes to push them when it comes to helping people!" Tidus voice was full of irritation.

"What are you three talking about?"

Yuna's musical voice floated through their conversation and instantly eased Stella's agitation. She turned her head, unworried about the sand in her blond hair, and was rushed with the wave of worry and desperation to protect Yuna that must always have been nagging at Tidus. In her flowing white robes again, her hair smoothed down to its natural look, and her wide and innocent eyes, it was impossible not to see the personification of innocence in Yuna. She was uncomplicated, unlike Noctis. Maybe that was why she had taken to her.

"About you." Tidus was instantly at her side, gazing down on Yuna with such adoration that the next rush of emotion that hit Stella was envy. Envy not for the attention Yuna had captured from Tidus, but for the adoration itself. Had Noctis ever looked at her that way, or had those nights just been a cruel joke?

"What about me?"

Stella pushed Noctis from her mind and turned her attention back to her friend. "You should be resting Yuna. This sending could be too much for one girl."

Yuna turned her eyes on Stella and she couldn't help but cringe. She felt as if she was looking right through her and could see the envy, hatred, and hurt that had clouded a dark corner of her heart. Yuna seemed to be saying to her, _I know your secret and you know why I cannot let the dead remain here. _Yuna knew many secrets.

"I have no choice."

Tidus opened his mouth to argue, but Yuna turned those eyes back on him and he melted. Stella did too, right back into the sand. She didn't want to watch their private conversation that only lovers could have in silence with their eyes. Still she could feel it happening beside her and dug her fingers into the sand. She wasn't angry with them, only with _him._

In the sky the single golden light was burning bitterly in the sky, waiting for the dead to enter. Stella understood why Yuna was so determined to perform the sending, it was the only way to close that door. That door that opened to the world of the dead. It could never fully close, of course, if there were still crystals on the earth; but as long as it was open, evil could enter their world. If it was opened too wide . . .

_Let them in_. Stella thought. _There is nothing real or good here anymore anyway. _

Yuna's shadow passed over her and stepped into the water. Tears were brimming at Stella's eyes as she realized last night had been her last night of ignorant hoping. It was all over now. Her hopes had been killed with Noctis' soldier. It was the first time she had killed a man and she wondered if his soul was wandering the lake with the dead floating beneath Yuna's feet as she stepped on the water's surface. Soon she would know yet another secret.

* * *

"**Are those some kind of . . . fireworks?" **Prompto was leaning over the steering wheel, peering into the sky.

Noctis knew what he was talking about before he looked upon them. The crystal's hum was a furious buzzing in his ears now. That noise always accompanied the presence of the dead. That orange glow so much like fire was burning brighter in the sky like a violent star. Very few could see it, and those who could never talked about it, but he couldn't ignore it. It was spreading like fire as if the doors containing it were opening wider and wider, and he knew there was a summoner performing a sending for the dead. Now the gates of heaven and hell were opening wide to let them in. When they opened this way, something evil always found its way out.

Then he looked out of the front window and he could see them. Shimmering orbs of light were floating high into the air over the lake like lightning bugs in the summer's air. To see the dead upon the ground was one thing, but to see them like this was unnerving to Noctis. Those souls were alive and dead all at the same moment. They were a life he could reach out and touch, but never bring back from death.

"Stop the car here," he demanded.

Prompto did as he said, pulling the car over so Noctis could step out.

* * *

**Yuna was standing still on the unmoving water. **Tidus knew she was gathering her strength for what was to come. Her shoulders raised with a deep breath of air, and then she was sweeping her golden staff across the water that blazed like flaming fire in the rising sun. Her body flowed gracefully, her golden rod caressing the air and calling forward the dead. The burning torches that had lit the night for them were licking angrily at the air.

The energy in the air was becoming more palpable around them. Tidus could feel it sweeping through him and could see it fanning at the flames. He saw the first trail of light seep from the dead now resting beneath the water and waft into the air faint and transparent as smoke. Yuna circled the staff, raising it higher into the air and over her head. Its single bell was jingling mournfully and calling the souls and the energy to her.

They grew in numbers, as did the sobbing around him. The crowd was thickening behind him, as were the souls slowly floating to Yuna like smoke. They could not take their eyes off the tragically beautiful dance Yuna was performing for the dead.

The souls followed the circling staff, burning brighter into life as they encircled Yuna's standing figure. Their translucent lights curled into the air as the swirling energy around them ruptured into a pulsating life. The golden fires erupted into an inferno of blue light and the cries grew in response. Even from inside his car at such a distance, Noctis could feel the energy pulsating through him like a separate, living pulse.

The water swelled beneath Yuna's feet into a spiraling wave. It brought her higher, spinning into the air as the souls' crystalline fire swam around her. Noctis stepped out from his car, watching the lamentable beauty unfolding before him. He could even hear an uncharacteristic sigh of awe escaping from Prompto's mouth.

"Can you really believe," he said in a voice low and void of its normal playful tone, "that the same person who placed those bombs is the same summoner to send their dead souls?"

Noctis and the crowd were now entranced by the hauntingly beauty of the dance. The cries of the crowd had harmonized into a tragic song that this young summoner was slowly dancing to. She circled elegantly upon the wave beneath her bare feet. Her purple skirt billowed around her. Her sleeves tinted with pink waved through the air, beckoning the souls to her. The staff with its golden, intricate weavings glinted like a star in the sky as she swept it across the water and then high into air.

This summoner was quiet different than the singer frozen in his picture.

The souls followed her movements, falling with the downward sweep of the staff like falling stars, and then floating high into the sky as she raised it once more. They circled above her, their light growing fainter as the fiery light in the sky grew brighter. They rose higher, flickering like dying starlight and then disappeared forever, like the lives they once had sustained.

It was too much for the crowd. It was too much for Tidus. It was too much for Stella. Tidus could hear knees falling to the ground as a woman's sobs grew into grieving cries.

"When she finishes . . ." Prompto's voice was thick. "Should we pick her up?"

"No," Noctis sighed.

It was too much even for him. The crystal was silent, overwhelmed with the cries of the dead and the mourning crowd. He watched the face of young summoner. Even from the distance, at the opposite edge of the river facing the crowd, he could see the resolve and the misery intermingled in her features.

His breath escaped him in a sigh. "Leave her to send the dead. Let's go."

Prompto didn't look at him as he passed and returned to the car. After a final glance, he followed to drive them away as the soul's final flicker of light faded away. Tidus was waiting for Yuna to return once it was over. Her eyes were distant, seeing things the dead had shown her before they passed, and not truly seeing the living that now clamored to her with tearful thanks for guiding their dead to the other side.

Tidus heard footsteps approaching him and he turned to see Stella and Rikku approaching him. Stella gave him a weak smile, hugging herself for warmth. Rikku had tears in her eyes. "There are talks of war now. You know what that would mean for Yuna, don't you."

Tidus nodded as both girls looked to Yuna, but he couldn't bring himself to look at her. War meant more deaths. More deaths meant more dances like this. Yuna would never stop dancing, but he also knew that something worse than this dance would follow. Other countries would rely on their more powerful weapons, but Lucis would rely on the crystal's power, power that summoners could harness.

Rikku rushed away to meet Yuna who was coming to them, leaving Stella and Tidus alone.

"I don't understand why this happened," Tidus sighed.

"Why else," Stella said bitterly, "because of the Caleums and their precious crystal. If they would share that power instead of isolating the other countries, maybe they wouldn't have attacked."

"The world would be better off without that crystal." Tidus said after a while.

Stella was silent for a moment, turning his words over. "Maybe, but it's here . . . This city isn't safe for us anymore Tidus. We don't belong here. I'm returning home to Tenebrea in the morning. You should do the same."

* * *

"**Did you bring the girl?"**

They were standing in that dark room lit only by a single lamp on a bare desk. Still Noctis could see the blood stains on the tile floor. "Cor made a mess I see. . . Was he able to get any information from him?"

King Lucis rose from the desk with an exasperated sigh. "Only that the men who made the bomb wore a family crest, but he didn't know who's. Where's the girl?"

"Still sending the dead, I suppose," Noctis shrugged, trying to keep his eyes off the old blood, but it seemed to be everywhere.

"She's a summoner?" His father's voice was a mix of amusement and surprise. "Summoner by day, singer by night. Quiet the disguise. It seemed to have fooled even you."

Noctis huffed in annoyance. The rooms with its shadowed walls seem to be growing smaller. He hated this room so full of death it made the crystal buzz loudly in his ear. Death seemed to power it at times. "I don't know what you mean."

His father had crossed the room, and rested his hand on his shoulder. "Come with me."

Noctis followed his father out the door. Stepping out of that dark room, and into the real office of his father that was full of light pouring out the many windows. "You didn't bring the girl because you don't think she was involved."

He gestured for Noctis to sit across from him behind the cluttered desk. They both sat and his father continued. "Your mother would have thought the same thing. You have her temperament you know? Your mother was trusting, too trusting . . . that's why she is not with us today."

Noctis looked away and out the window. He couldn't meet his father's eyes when he spoke of his mother's death. He didn't want him to see the guilt there. "I didn't bring her because I don't see how the same girl who killed so many people, could send them too."

A silence followed his words and he forced himself to stop looking into the day and into his father's face. There was a patient gaze there reserved only for his son. "Noctis, there is always a reason to the madness. She was standing on the bomb . . .maybe it was meant to be a suicide mission? It obviously failed, but she can't break character."

"You didn't see her," Noctis' voice came out sounding much like it did when he was still a child.

"The crystal showed her to me the same way it showed her to you." His father's voice was patronizing with its patience. "She has such an innocent face. That's probably why she was chosen."

Noctis sat silent, his eyes glued to the unused pen on his father's desk. He was not convinced. It didn't make sense to him. Still his father persisted, and Noctis felt like a small child who disappointed his father yet again. "She won't be going anywhere anytime soon. I'll let it be . . . for now. In the meantime, see if you can't track down where that rumor about the bombs started to begin with."

Noctis stood up obediently. "Yes father."

King Lucis watched him leave the room and waited for Cor to come into the room. Cor's eyes had that glossy look from lack of sleep, but he held himself high as always. Lucis was still watching through the door where his only son had disappeared. "Sometimes I wonder if I have done right by that boy. I had hoped to give him something more when he steps into my place . . . but sometimes I wonder if I was too soft."

Cor did not answer right away, but once he did, it was obvious he was choosing his words wisely. "I think he is aware of what a harsh world it is, if that is what you mean."

"Does he?" King Lucis sat back into his chair with a sigh. His face was weary from the years of violence, making him appear older than he truly was. "Maybe I have been too easy on him. Do you remember how my father initiated me into manhood?"

Cor's face grew hard. "I was there."

They were both silent as the memory pressed upon them. Cor's eyes couldn't help but sliver over the bookshelf that hid the secret room they had been in last night with the traitor. An image of two boys only thirteen both watching with wide, terrified eyes as a man was murdered still was hauntingly vivid to him.

"I never wanted to make my boy have to witness such a thing, but in this family . . ." King Lucis trailed off and into a new, less oppressive silence. "Maybe I was a fool to believe I could create a peaceful world for him while he still controls the crystal. It took a lot of lives to get, and many more to keep."

"I believe it is still possible, sir."

Lucis smiled at his oldest friend. "You have always humored me, Cor. Let's move onto business."

Cor nodded. "It seems that Stella of Tenebr has been visiting out city."

"Little Stella." King Lucis sat up straighter, intrigued by the news. "Whatever would bring her into town?"

"The Peace Conference, says her men." Cor's voice was thick with skepticism. "It could be a coincidence, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to pick her up and ask her."

King Lucis sat back in his chair. The sentimental glow in his eye had dulled and his face rearranged into the expression of a man plotting. "No . . . let's leave her be for now. Stella was always close to Noctis, I don't believe she would have any part in such a thing . . . at least not willingly. Keep an eye on her and whoever might already be keeping track of her movements."

* * *

**The sun had rose despite the nightmare from last night,** and now it was beginning to set. Outside the window the sphere of fire was still burning angrily, casting its glow on the rubble that once had been part of the city, _his _city. Noctis couldn't keep his eyes from the ruins, destroyed in the war long before his birth. Were they headed that way once more? Was last night just the beginning of more death?

Stella's stunning face flashed before his eyes and he forced himself to look away.

"Prince Noctis. We've arrived." His driver announced.

Noctis let himself out of the broad car and found himself looking away from the single tower that somehow withstood time and war. He turned to glance behind him and could almost see the lake's glistening water where the summoner had performed the sending hours ago. He found himself wondering if she was there now, still dancing for the dead. A sudden yearning to go and see for himself overcame him, and he shook his shoulder as if to throw it off.

He turned back to the temple and began to climb the ancient stairs. The guards on either side of the door held glinting machine guns with a menacing glint in their eyes. Their pin stripped suits did not belong amongst the history of the temple, but then again Noctis didn't belong their either.

"Caelum," one of the guards said coolly.

Noctis met the guard's eye, but otherwise did not acknowledge him. He stepped through the immense doors that were thrown open as if they were already expecting him. There was no one waiting inside the grand foryer, but he didn't have to be told where to go. His crystal was murmuring softly, growing stronger with each step. It could sense the presence of another.

He took the door straight before him. The crystal's hum became a faint vibration in his chest as he began to descend the stairs behind him. Noctis stepped into a dark room. Blue light in the shape of an ancient crest, long forgotten, burned in the air. The blind prophet, crippled with age sat beneath it in an old chair.

"I have been expecting you, Prince Noctis. It's rude to keep people waiting."

Noctis stepped further into the room, the vibrations in his chests so strong he wondered if the blind prophet could hear them. If he could, he showed no signs. He kept his head low, the white hood adorned with silver covering his face.

"I've had a very busy day," Noctis' voice was bored even to his own ears. "Word on the streets is that the you started the rumor about the bombing."

There was a moment of silence while the hooded man took in his words. The chuckle was faint, humorless but Noctis heard it all the same. "How many men did you have to beat before you finally found your way here? Funny that you should start and end the same day here in the ruins. Not many come to this place anymore."

Noctis clenched his fist hidden in his pockets. He had had a very long day indeed. He and Gladiolus had tipped over one speakeasy after the next, nearly burnt one to the ground to get a name. That name got him another, and another. Each man had to be roughed up a little, but that was something Gladiolus never tired of . . . beating on Mafia foot soldiers. After a string of clubs, a string of faces, and a string of beatings, he got the name of the old Mafia boss exiled from Accordo."

"How did you know about the bomb," Noctis demanded. "Were you involved?"

His words fell into the silence. They seemed lost to the large room and the hooded man who did not flinch, did not move. Finally, the hooded man held up his empty palm and light appeared. It was small, twinkling, as it spun slowly just an inch above his open palm. His shadowed face watched it in silence for a long moment during which the hum of Noctis' crystal became excited. When he at last spoke his voice was distance and hollow. "I held so much power before the war . . . I could see _everything_!"

His voice grew harsh on that final word. The large room that seemed to stretch up and end in shadows at it up hungrily and threw it back at Noctis. He could hear the fury, the implication that it held even after it was silenced. The hooded figure clinched his fist and the light was swallowed up by his hand. "I could call forth images of the future whenever I wanted, but there was one I liked to see more than others. I saw Accordo strong and towering high above all others . . . but I also saw another of Lucis from time to time . . . bright and sparkling amongst the ashes of all other cities. And I foolish enough to believe that _I _was powerful enough! That nothing could stop me from getting what I wanted!"

His mouth opened and closed again, bitterness and regret struggling on his lips. He opened his hand to expose the sliver of light. "Now this tiny shard of the crystal is all that I'm left with and sometimes I can still see glimpses of the future . . . sometimes . . . and I saw a glimpse of that bomb. I saw a glimpse of the death it would cause. That's why I started the rumor."

"Did you see anything else?"

"I did." The Prophet answered, but didn't continue.

When Noctis could no longer wait he asked, "What?"

"I saw _her_ dying?"

His voice was chilling and void of emotion all at once. "Who?" Noctis asked.

"I do not know, but it seems . . . you do," he answered. "She was quite pretty, this girl of yours."

Noctis let the prophet's words repeat in his head. A woman. Dead. He tried to keep _her_ from his mind, but that image of her beneath the moonlight standing alone in the street flooded his eyes. How beautifully dangerous she had looked. "Well your visions do not always come true, now do they?"

"You may harden your heart, Prince Noctis, but she will break it and you will not even see her coming."

Noctis waved his words away, annoyed with the time he had just wasted. "Well if you have nothing that is useful to me, I must be going."

He turned his back on the burning crest and was already at the foot of the stairs when The Prophet called him. "But I do have something more that will be useful to you."

Noctis sighed internally before turning to face him. The old mafia boss still sat in the same manner. His hands, each finger adorned with a bulky ring, rested on the chairs arm rest much like Noctis' father when he was in complete control of a situation. Noctis could not see his expression, but he could hear his voice was full of amusement.

"Ask the summoner."

Noctis waited a moment more for him to continue, but The Prophet did not. "Ask the summoner what?"

"Who killed your mother."

Red, furious and blinding, flashed before his eyes. His heart began pounding loudly in his ears as blood rushed to his face. He could see his mother standing over him, her shoulder length black hair, kind face, and emerald green eyes and then she was gone. He had to take a breath to steady himself, to quell the rage. He could not let his nerve break. "What summoner?"

"Oh, I believe you already know who I speak of."

* * *

**Tidus had already made his decision. **It was cruel, but they were living in a cruel world. Maybe it was time to take his father's unwanted advice and become a man. Still he was having a hard time figuring out the words to tell Yuna. After a day of sendings, she had disappeared somewhere in the woods just beyond the city and the old ruins.

He had planned to let her come to him, after she had time to gain her composure, but night had already settled in. It hadn't taken long to find her though. She was standing waist deep in the spring he had heard bubbling from far away, with her back to him. It was serene, but the floating crystalline shards of life made it breath taking. That must have been how she had knew he had arrived.

"Its funny to think," she said softly, still watching the tree in the spring's water. "Something as small as one crystal could destroy so much life. I thought . . . I thought all that would be over . . . but . . ."

Tidus felt his resolve he had spent the day building crumbling just at the sound of her tender voice. He stepped into the water unsure of what he could say to ease her pain. She continued so that he would not have to worry long. "It's silly now but . . . That's why I wanted to sing. I thought this war was over for good and I just wanted to find a way to make everyone smile . . . to make everyone forget."

Tidus was waist deep in the water now. His eyes were watching the warm, orange globe of light from the tree Yuna still watched. "Well . . . you still can Yuna . . . sing I mean. You're were famous without anyone even seeing your beautiful face!"

His tone that was meant to be cheerful sounded forced and harsh in the spring's quiet calm. Yuna was silent in the wake of his words, her eyes following a single crystalline shard of light. The moonlight made diamonds on the water and they seemed to be breaking away from its surface and floating back into the sky to become stars.

"But . . . I'm a summoner first . . . and if there is another war . . ."

Her words dissolved into silence, but she didn't need to continue. The silence spoke volumes to what a war would mean for Yuna. It was something he couldn't accept. He plunged under the water, hoping to either drown himself into peaceful oblivion, or wash away the dark future he was imagining. In the absence of air, he found his resolve again. He plunged back into the hot summer air. It was thick, pressing against them, and now he realized he could hear all sorts of life coming from the woods around them. Many lives had ended today, but that didn't mean they had to stop living, did it?

"Just give up being a summoner, Yuna. The world deserves some happiness, and your songs could do just that!"

She turned to face him then and he could see the ghost of a smile on her pink lips. "You think so?"

"Yeah!"

He could feel excitement like a life swelling inside him and bleeding out in the exuberant tones of his voice. "We could travel to all the major cities Yuna! All of us. You, me . . Rikku and Stella! People would come from everywhere just to see you on that stage and hear your voice! They wouldn't even care if you came from Lucis, or Accordo, or even Nifheim! All they would care about is you and your music! I bet the Prince himself would even come to hear you sing!"

Yuan's face was growing brighter with each word. He could see the glow of her eyes as she imagined those stage lights beaming on her. "My songs could bring everyone together! We could go see the world and all those places my mother told me about! There would be dancing, and laughing! Parties and singing!"

"Yeah," Tidus moved closer, her excitement reeling him in and fueling his own. "You could come to all my games!"

"Oh, I'd cheer and cheer till I couldn't cheer anymore," her sweet laughter bubbled around him and he felt as if the world beyond the springs existed just as it did in their imaginations.

"Then you could sing your songs at the end and everyone would cheer for you!"

"Then what would we do?"

"We'd go out and party until the sun rise!"

"In the middle of the night?"

Her voice still held that innocence that had drawn him to her in the beginning. "The cities never sleep! We'll dance all night and then we could all watch the sun rise. . . Together!"

They were so close now he could smell the sweetness of her skin. That sense of urgency was suddenly upon him once more. He felt that he must, that he had to reach out and close this threatening distance between them, but with the next breath everything was wrong.

Her face was falling, and with it the imaginary, dazzling future they had just dreamt up. She was stepping away from him, making ripples in the water. She was stepping away from his false hope, fake future and resting her hand on the necklace on her chest. It was something she did only when she was truly sad. He had seen her do it countless times, even when she had bean wearing that fake smile. He knew he had lost her.

"But I would no longer be a summoner."

She turned away from him and desperation rose inside him. He had to talk her out of this life. He had to find a way to save her, somehow. He stepped around eager to make her see him, to make her listen and was stunned by what he saw. Tears were slowly falling from her face. He had seen many sides of Yuna, but never this. She had a vulnerability about her that made him wish to protect her, but she hid it fiercely behind smiles.

"I'm sorry Tidus but I can't. I just . . . can't."

She turned those strange eyes on him. They were hauntingly beautiful with the glistening tears. "Even if I was with you . . . I could never forget."

* * *

Sorry if there was still some editing needed, the more I read the more I edit the more I mess it back up. I've decided not to move this into crossover territory after looking through the unlisted crossover stories in FF versus category.


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